Before portrait photography was invented, artist had already devised a method of portrait making. Mostly the wealthy and aristocrats of this time period had their portraits painted. In the mid 19th century photography finally came about to satisfy the new portrait craze. Besides photography many other methods were invented to satisfy the new need for portraits. For example, the miniature, the silhouette and the camera Lucida drawing were also other forms of portrait making. Photography, now, is the most popular and fastest action in taking portraits. Portrait photography is divided up into sections, due to the fact that there are many different styles of portrait photography, Daguerreotype Portraits, Calotype Portraits, and Collodion Portraits are examples of 3 of these. .
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A man named Louis-Jacques-mande Daguerre invented the Daguerreotype portraits in 1839. The Daguerreotype is a direct positive process; it created a high detailed image without the use of a negative. The process was done by creating the image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver. After the sheet was coated it needed to be washed until it resembled a mirror, it was then placed in a closed bow over iodine until what appeared to be a yellow rose appeared. The sheet was then transferred from the light tight box into the camera. One the sheet was exposed it needed to be developed over mercury until the image appeared. Exposure times for Daguerreotype portraits were 3 to 15 minutes long, which made this method of portraits unpractical. .
After the Daguerreotype was invented came the Calotype Portraits. The Calotype's paper negative made it possible to make a reproduction of the picture. The coarse paper of the negative, however, eliminated the delicate detail that was captured by the Daguerreotype. A Scottish painter named, David Hill and his assistant, Robert Adamson noticed the lack of precision and composed portraits in bold masses of light and dark.
